Urgent Call To All Dr. Strange Fans

I'm curating MoCCA's big opening fall show, TOON TOWN: COMIC AND CARTOON ART IN NEW YORK CITY which is all about how cartoonists were inspired by New York, and vice-versa. We have a whole section on "Marvel's New York". I'd LOVE an original piece of art depicting Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. Key would be Ditko, of course, but I'm interested in anything depicting the Doc's digs. The show opens October 6 and we're looking to get the pieces in-house in the next couple weeks.

So Neilalienistas, is there anyone out there with some original art of the Sanctum Sanctorum building that can be part of a great show and cause? Email this website or Fred directly at fvanlente AT moccany.org.

The eyes deceive! The last three issues of JMS' Rising Stars are scheduled for release [Newsarama]
After such a long delay, sales are likely horked.

Feeling guilty about discounts: Do comics consumers have a responsibility to help out the retailer with that mortgage, or do they have the capitalist Walmart right to get the cheapest comics they can? [Otto's Coffee Shop]

Dr. Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent back in print [Egon reports]

Aquaman has no beard and John Stewart is Green Lantern so it's pretty much set in some kind of current continuity but I'm afraid it's not the gloomy 'adult' world of Sue Dibny's shredded lycra pants so keep well away if it's attempted rape you crave. Cannibalism, yes, rape, no. My DCU is a day-glo, non-stop funhouse, where the world is threatened every five minutes and godlike beings clash in the skies like fireworks.

Brian Michael Bendis has suspended his message board; a small group of posters there had apparently burned their Human Civilization membership cards and kept a disgusting list (even if 'just joking') of onlinecomicsphere women they planned to rape at Wizard World Chicago [Post-Crisis via Heaping Plateful] [Fanboy Rampage (and scroll up)] [Bendis on Newsarama] [Millarworld]

Superbeing and Time [John & Belle Have A Blog]
Superheroes work best when they, by overlapping childhood and adulthood via their tropes/crippling man-child limitations, evoke nostalgia for lost innocence and wistfulness for the child's crystallizing world and the "pain of unachieved adulthood contending with hope for redeemed childish innocence". And it's something both Chabon and Ware have done: to contrast them (as the recent McGrath New York Times Magazine piece does) misses the basis of literary comparison.

Crisis on Infantile Earths- or- If it's Tuesday, it must be Ragnarok! [John & Belle Have A Blog]
The "picaresquebricolage", the lack of change or progress in the episodic repetition, the lack of effectiveness against endless crime, the status quo or powers that be- all a deep, structural challenge for superhero stories and their continuity. Also: injecting adult themes into superhero stories doesn't lead to realism but to a sick simulacrum of realism. Or turn the nondebuggable-by-continuity-cops bugs into features, and be equivocal towards the straight cape book, instead of doing parody or deconstruction.

Comic-book sounds and noises: How do they translate? Need an accepted term for the study of phonologized renderings of non-speech noises and their cultural dimensions [Language Log]

Follow-up: The August 02004 issue of Harper's has a nice little essay by Wyatt Mason called "Flying Up and Flying Down: The rise and fall of the American superhero" which reviews Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers!, Arlen Schumer's The Silver Age of Comic Book Art, and Mythology. The piece includes a small image from the comics of Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum by Ditko! Neilalien couldn't find "Razor Magazine" though, which allegedly has a Stan Lee piece.

Marvel publisher Dan Buckley: "The biggest challenge in our industry is to keep consumers and retailers interested in the mid-level books" [interviewed at Newsarama]
And reeling in the 'collectors and completists' with variant covers.

Totally hilarious and lame 70's commercial for Mego superhero action figures [Retrocrush (click on Captain America screenshot for MPG)] [via Brill Building]
The Falcon is BLACK. And Mr. Fantastic has the power of invisibility.

Alan Moore interview: The man who invented the future [Salon.com (free day pass if you watch a commercial- worth it!)]

We both miss that kind of critical eye that TCJ used to really shine on the mainstream; just because it might be a trashy culture doesn't mean it doesn't deserve some kind of serious thinking applied to it.

The latino press is very interested in that new Marvel book Amazing Fantasy with its strong latino female lead [ICv2]

Neilalien's off to see Devo, with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Stellastarr* at the Central Park Summerstage tonight in the rain. Seeing Devo live is a Life To Do List item Neilalien never thought he'd be able to cross off as Complete. They last played NYC in 01989. See you there! Iggy and the Stooges and New York Dolls (hopefully; damn, who's still alive?) in three weeks!

How a Meek Comic Book Company Became a Hollywood Superpower [New York Times] [via Franklin's Findings]
This item's about the suits who got the film deals renegotiated and the licensing off the ground. Little mention of publishing, Quesada, Jemas, etc.- doubling publishing in four years from $10 million a quarter to $20 million just can't compare.

Christians hear an echo of Stan Lee's line in the Book of Luke: "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded."

(The verse quoted here is Luke 12:47-48, prescribing how servants should be beaten for not knowing or acting in accord with their master's desires. Yeah, that fits.)

The ridiculous rape and murder and misogyny and lobotomy of DC's BIG EVENT BOOK Identity Crisis examined [Ninth Art] [The Hurting via ADDTF] [numbing awfulness]
With little interest in the DC Universe, Neilalien passed on the book. He's glad he did at the moment.
Updates/Equal Time: Chris Allen asks, "What's the hubbub?" [Comic Book Galaxy]
A total lack of perspective in the responses; it's not for kids; Sue Dibny's strength; something bad's gotta happen to someone in a mystery [Postmodernbarney]

There are some challenges out there for people to discuss the book. One would hope that these were honest calls to explore a profoundly wonderful piece of sequential art, of superhero conventions and assumptions, and a flat-out scary story- but there's just too much gigglin' and smirkin' and double-dog-darin' and chest-thumpin' by the challengers for Neilalien's tastes.

And heck, it's so much less intimidating to respond to a review of the book rather than review the book itself... :)

Alan David Doane's review of the book has some smart technical observations. But geez, it's so mired in looking at the book through the altcomix anti-sooperdoop-fanboy confrontational prism. The intelligence-level of the review is weakened, like the melting edge of an ice-shiv of shit. Neilalien just can't seem to leave this baited line of ADD's alone:

Clowes fully mines the possibilities inherent in his profound understanding of the psychopathology of the vast majority of American superhero comics readers- he is the master of the arctic shit-knife that is a keen insight into the "tropes," the traditional ways of presenting American superhero comics.

Hoped for a moment that ADD was simply saying that Clowes has expertly tapped into how most people enjoy the presentation of their comics, with the oversized book making one feel like a kid again, the sound effects, etc. But the hope is long dashed when you reach the 'This is the superhero crap they want (to paraphrase Warren Ellis)? Well then Here It Is STAB' rhetoric.

See that first part of the above quote? Clowes isn't speaking to the inherent mindfuck that is currently American society or self-justified American power. He isn't even speaking to the psychopathology of American superhero comics stories (or American hero myths, like our fucked-up children's songs and fairy tales with their down-will-come-baby and witches eating children). This story isn't about youth or insane irresponsible people getting super powers or wishes fulfilled. He's certainly not using the superhero genre and its tropes brilliantly and subversively, to show the near-real-world-impossibility of finding a crime in progress to stop, crimes by obvious 100% villains or stopped by obvious 100% good guys, or to convey the same-old altcomix misanthropy. No- it's claimed here by ADD that Clowes is speaking to the psychoticness of the superhero comic reader. Why are we talking about the superhero reader? Clowes' intentions are unknown to Neilalien, but one wistfully hopes ADD is wrong and not basically insulting Clowes by claiming that the fish Clowes wants to fry isn't any bigger than the smackdown of Newsarama message board posters. This is snob-camp bullshit! Superhero readers don't have a unique and general psychopathology. As if superhero readers are more likely to become serial killers; as if they walk around so pubescent and powerless, wishing they could zap unpleasant people out of existence any more than anyone else!? Can't the snob-camp comment on superheroes at all without commenting on the readers too? This snob-camp obsession with the superhero reader's inner psychological states, their alleged inability to tell fantasy from reality, their alleged inability to comprehend that in 'real life' the first thing spider-powered Peter Parker probably would have done was kill Flash Thompson, their alleged inability to enjoy the deconstruction of superheroes without feeling personally threatened!- it's all so strange, fascinating and tiring as hell. Can Eightball #23 be quickly rescued from this kind of simplistic "lovenote to the comicsnob" analysis? Neilalien thinks these "challenges" (praise the book! admit it makes you look stupid, fanboy!) silence discussion, not promote it.

I also think cartoonists, in general, are becoming less uptight about all the genre stuff. We've created more distance between what we are doing and what the mainstream guys are up to (certainly a lot more than back in the 80's) and so we are less concerned about reacting against it. Dan Clowes is using a super hero in his next comic- I think that is a sign that we don't really feel any reaction against that stuff anymore. A superhero is just another symbol to be used now. Ten years ago it was a more charged issue.

Ten years ago, fellas. Stop living in the past. And then maybe Neilalien can stop living in the yet-another-quick-defensive-of-the-superhero-enjoyer past too.

Marvel Board Authorizes $100 Million Share Repurchase Program [press release on Business Wire (Yahoo Finance)]
Guess this would be the other end of the cash-flow spectrum... The stock's been looking a little weak and insider-oversold and diluted since the split anyway. If this buyback happens (it's only been approved), it would amount to, at current prices, 5% of the company.
Marvel Plays Superhero? [Fool.com]

Has Jim Shooter returned to Marvel as a consultant!? [Lying In The Gutters]
That would explain Necromancy Month and other retros. Also word that Marvel considered buying CrossGen (who's at the point of cancelling people's health insurance) but balked when it saw the books.

Steve Ditko of Two Worlds [Franklin's Findings]
Responding to Unqualified Offerings' recent question. Ditko is capable of separating his art from his philosophy, especially in supernatural stories like Dr. Strange (which would totally offend the rationalist Objectivist mind). Also some speculation that Spidey may have taught by 'bad example'.
"There goes Stan, hammering home the irony again!" [Pop Culture Gadabout]

Alternative Comics needs Team Comix help [Newsarama]
An email appeal blames cash flow problems lingering from the LPC distributor bankruptcy. Go see if there's something you can buy. Neilalien can at least recommend past Best of MoCCA winner Titans of Finance by Josh Neufeld and R. Walker, basically anything by past Best of MoCCA winner Damon Hurd (especially My Uncle Jeff) (although he won BoM doing much different work than that), and Sam Henderson's Magic Whistle has generated many a chuckle.

Sequential Tart is a quality website that's been around a long time, and it's one of Neilalien's favorites. Hopefully the cool savvy web chicks there can clear up these issues soon.

Meanwhile, check out these un-notified ST links before the URLs change!:
Death and the Female Character: Some Thoughts on Death and the Role of Gender in Superhero Comics [Sequential Tart]
Read This or Die: Fade From Blue [Sequential Tart]

Ditko dissects Shotgun Mike [Winnipeg Sun column by John Gleeson] [via Mark Evanier]
And then all of a sudden, Steve Ditko weighs in publicly for a newspaper column about some crank in Canada with a shotgun? As Evanier notes, "I hope he got Ditko's permission to [quote personal correspondence]."

Where is Steve Ditko in Spider-Man? [Unqualified Offerings asks]
Because 'scare-quote altruism' ("With great power there must come great responsibility") is close to the First Deadly Objectivist Sin.
Mark Evanier answers: Ditko wasn't as militant; Lee politically stuck between Kirby and Ditko; Objectivists still want crime stopped; Spider-Man not as much a wimpy feet-of-clay anti-hero in the comics as perceived; the word balloons are Lee's.

Marvel stock has surrendered 16% of its value since Spider-Man 2 opened last week [Fool.com]
Neilalien's certainly no investing guru, but the likely reason as he sees it: The herd thought that they were buying at the bottom, or at least before a large move upward, because they bought sometime shortly before the movie came out and the big profits rolled in. But in reality, as usual, they bought at the top, after the big expected success of the movie was long ago already priced into the stock by the market powers-that-be. But it's back up almost 5% of that today.

The best way to consolidate comics as a viable medium is to make them LESS like other media, not more. Let our artists go wild on imaginative page layouts. Let our writers find stories in their dreams and not in the newspaper pages, at least for a little while again. Aim for the cool, literate 'college' audience, as Stan Lee did to great success in the 60s.

Apologies: This morning, the recent massive activity of your sun disrupted Neilalien's transmissions and horked this website
If you can see this post, then either (a) he has fixed the problem, or (b) you are so under the thrall of his orbital mind-control lasers that you can read this website even when it's down!

"I wouldn't know what to retire to," Lee said in a chipper tone. "Most people who retire say, 'Boy at last I can do what I've always wanted to do. But I'm doing what I've wanted to do so there's no point stopping."

Stan Lee and Alfred Molina discuss Dr. Octopus [Washington Times] [via Thought Balloons]
His origin, like that of many supervillains, revolves around one fateful day in a laboratory... With this gem from Molina:

Although some of the DC Comics characters were fun, overall I preferred the Marvel Universe because the heroes were heroes reluctantly, and the same thing for the villains, while in the DC world, it was all too moral.

Scholastic to launch a graphic-novel imprint aimed at teens and younger readers called Graphix [Comics.212.net]
[S]ignals the entry of a major trade house into a market dominated by specialty comics publishers...

Free Comic Book Day talkback [ICv2 overview]
Retailer: Three-day holiday weekend during the summer was a bad idea [ICv2]
Retailer: Date hurt in Northampton, MA; wanted a more adult selection of comics instead of kiddie [ICv2]
Retailer: Stormtrooper presence tops off huge success in Tallahassee, FL [ICv2]
Retailer: FCBD keeps getting bigger in Phoenix, AZ; "the naysayers were wrong" [ICv2]
Steven Grant: Let's ask some questions and get some analysis before this turns into the Arbor Day of comicdom [Permanent Damage]

"Between Superhero Supply Stores and MoCCA, it's an exciting time to be a fan of the funny books" [Ninth Art]

We keep getting stunts like crossovers and such because we buy them [Ninth Art]
Never forget what lies at the bottom of the variant-cover slippery slope [Ninth Art]

Person relates how he visited Steve Ditko recently [Collector's Society Message Boards] [link emailed by Wrong Dimension Boy]
Steve Ditko is listed in the Manhattan phone book, with "artist" by his name. Neilalien's never had the guts to call or pop in like this person did- but he's considered it! Even thought about commissioning a sketch or logo for this website of an alien reading a comic book. But Neilalien, a private entity himself, respects the man's privacy. And the terse encounter related at the above link is pretty much how Neilalien expected any meeting would go anyway. Be careful when you meet your heroes... Not that Ditko's got time for extended conversations with every slobbering fanboy dolt who might drop by the office. (PS- Linked directly to the post because the signal-to-noise ratio in that thread is extremely low.)
Update: Leave my favorite recluse alone, jerks!

Free Comic Book Day today! Go get your free loot! Grab extras to give away to potential new readers, leave it in public places, etc.

Magician-for-hire with stage name Dr. Strange charged with unlawful videotaping of juveniles [Southern Illinoisan] [link emailed by MemeMachineGo]
Almost exactly one year ago today, Neilalien posted a quick link to a news story about an Illinois-based magician with the stage name Dr. Strange [link to Neilalien's post; original news item link rotted away]. Think it's the same guy.

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